John Goldman

John drives transformative deals at the intersection of real estate, energy and infrastructure. His experience reaches across sectors and asset classes, including data centers, retail, shipping terminals and logistics, gaming and hospitality, media and broadcasting, entertainment and recreation, and renewable and traditional energy. He regularly advises on distressed companies and assets, liability management, monetization and deleveraging of companies and assets, along with restructurings both in and out of court.

John works closely with sponsors, investors, government agencies, public companies, private equity and debt funds, portfolio companies, sovereigns, and pension funds on complex asset strategies, including commercial investment, disposition, development, operation and financing. He has played key roles in significant public company real estate investment trust (REIT) spinoff transactions and marine terminal concessions, transfers, privatizations and redevelopments.

John’s representative matters include advising:

• A consortium led by a top global investment firm in the $15 billion all-cash acquisition of a global data center company*
• A major American luxury fitness company and health club in a comprehensive $1.8 billion refinancing of its capital structure*
• A leading global alternative asset management company and its portfolio companies in connection with the development and construction financing of an approximately 339-mile transmission line that will deliver clean and renewable hydropower from Québec to New York City*
• A midstream infrastructure business in connection with its $550 million refinancing*
• A Los Angeles-based private equity firm specializing in the food sector in its acquisition of a majority stake in a popular organic egg producer*
• A global alternative asset manager in its investment of $750 million in a California-based developer of utility-scale solar and battery energy storage systems*
• The infrastructure fund arm of one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors on the acquisition and financing of a California-based waste management company*
• A top infrastructure investor in its investment in and $18.4 billion development and project financing of a major liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility*
• An energy credit fund in its potential investment in retail hydrogen fueling stations*
• A large US big-box retail chain and its affiliates in their Chapter 11 cases in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey*
• A major global cinema operator and its affiliates in their Chapter 11 cases in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas*
• A major US department store chain and its affiliate entities in their Chapter 11 reorganization, including the sale of the company’s operating business and the sale, renegotiation or rejection of its 850 owned and leased retail locations and 11 distribution centers*
• Lenders in connection with the $3.4 billion refinancing for a major US LNG export facility*
• A joint venture acquisition of a multimodal marine dry good bulk port facility in Wilmington, North Carolina*
• A South African international banking and wealth management group and the lenders in the senior secured and mezzanine financing for an oil and gas refining and marketing services provider*
• An online women’s clothing rental business in its acquisition of an online retail and department store chain*
• A publicly traded global chemical products manufacturer in its $2.1 billion sale of its chemical intermediates and surfactants businesses to a petrochemical producer*
• A major US telecommunications company in the ground-up development, finance and credit tenant leasing of its new 500,000-square-foot headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut*
• A major privately held logistics company in its bid to privatize the Port of Chicago*
• A leading global alternative asset management company, alongside two investment management companies, in the 4.77-billion-pound acquisition of a global family entertainment company*
• A top global biopharmaceutical company in its $90 billion acquisition of another major global biopharmaceutical company*
• An affiliate of an Israel-based American real estate development company in connection with its $510 million take-private acquisition of a Canadian-listed REIT that owns 44 North American industrial and suburban office properties*
• One of the oldest independent coal producers in the US and certain of its affiliates in certain debt and sale transactions in connection with their Chapter 11 proceedings*
• A major US retailer in the monetization of a large portfolio of big-box retail and distribution facilities*
• A multinational US gaming and hospitality company in the public REIT spinoff of 10 destination resort casino properties*
• A major multinational US conglomerate in a $37.5 billion joint venture and eventual sale of a leading multinational mass media and entertainment company involving extensive, high-value and complex real estate holdings*
• A multinational US real estate company in the joint venture development of US and international office tower projects with investment from pensions, sovereign wealth funds and ultra-high net worth private investors*
• A port authority and major US regional transportation infrastructure owner in the restructuring and expansion of several marine container terminal leases, as well as on significant policy matters*

*Representation handled before joining Cooley